Interest in hand machined acrylic shift knobs?
08-30-10, 09:46 AM
#1
Interest in hand machined acrylic shift *****?
I'm curious as to the interest of a custom shift **** for the FC, offered in either S4 or S5 thread patterns.
It would be clear acrylic, polished to look like glass, and also laser engraved with the official mazdaRX-7 logo that's on the rear driver side, or could be custom laser engraved with whatever you'd like (GXL, T2... your name... etc.). The laser engraving would be filled with an engraving paint, which makes the engraving stand out (IE, clear plastic, black engraving)
The acrylic can also be dyed to whatever color-- smoked grey, neon orange.. plenty of possibilities.
I was thinking ~$50/$60 per ****. They're very light, over half the density of aluminum, so it gives a faux short shifter feel.
Some history-- I've been currently machining yoyos from acrylic as my "day job" for the past year & a half- here's some examples:
I haven't read anything up at all on becoming a 7club vendor, so this is just a "test" to see about potential interest/ price check (cool w/ prices? move them lower a bit?). I've got a **** I made years ago for mine that I'll take some pictures of the next chance I get.
Anyway, let me know your thoughts, appreciate it!
Landon
It would be clear acrylic, polished to look like glass, and also laser engraved with the official mazdaRX-7 logo that's on the rear driver side, or could be custom laser engraved with whatever you'd like (GXL, T2... your name... etc.). The laser engraving would be filled with an engraving paint, which makes the engraving stand out (IE, clear plastic, black engraving)
The acrylic can also be dyed to whatever color-- smoked grey, neon orange.. plenty of possibilities.
I was thinking ~$50/$60 per ****. They're very light, over half the density of aluminum, so it gives a faux short shifter feel.
Some history-- I've been currently machining yoyos from acrylic as my "day job" for the past year & a half- here's some examples:
I haven't read anything up at all on becoming a 7club vendor, so this is just a "test" to see about potential interest/ price check (cool w/ prices? move them lower a bit?). I've got a **** I made years ago for mine that I'll take some pictures of the next chance I get.
Anyway, let me know your thoughts, appreciate it!
Landon
08-30-10, 10:42 AM
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08-30-10, 01:12 PM
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08-30-10, 05:08 PM
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Need to make one with a small rose in it like the bowling ball from kingpin.
How would these hold up to the heat from the shaft? How will you make the threads not get to hot and wanna wear/melt away?
How would these hold up to the heat from the shaft? How will you make the threads not get to hot and wanna wear/melt away?
08-30-10, 07:26 PM
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08-30-10, 10:38 PM
#16
Cool, this is going over pretty well actually! I'll turn a few out this weekend to show you what I can do. Shape wise-- it's made on a metal lathe, so it's going to have to be a spun, machined part (No crazy organic shapes), and again, being on a metal lathe, the curves are kinda limited (notice on the yoyos, that the shape is just series of strait lines). I'll come up w/ something/am open to cool ideas though
Cast acrylic is what I'll be machining (Cast, meaning that it was cast into the bar stock, not extruded through an extrusion die, not refering to what I do w/ it, I machine it on a lathe), and as far as it's properties go: It doesn't fade or yellow in the presence of sunlight, not that much if any UV can penetrate autoglass anyway lol. It's strong when tapped for threads, and possibility of melting is VERY unlikely, if possible at all. I'd even be willing to have a few of you get some reduced price "test *****" to see about how well the threads hold up-- On the one I made years ago (Pictures coming soon, just gotta dig it up from the parts bin, ha!), that was never an issue.
I'll purchase a tap for both S4 and S5 shift lever thread size-- So you'd just have to specify what year car/ or what lever you have in your car prior to ordering. No cheesy, loose wobbly adapters here!
As far as weighting the ***** go-- I'm not quite sure how I could pull it off & still have it look interesting, since it's clear? Embedding those rotors/turbos could add some weight though. It's funny someone is doing that! I thought for SURE I'd be the first person to make acrylic ***** specifically for 7's haha.
I can definitely embed objects too- I'll just have to purchase the acrylic as a liquid resin, and then cast it myself, with the objects in place. But ya, totally feasible.
I should also add- I can do wooden ***** too, out of rare exotic stuff like cocobolo, pink ivory, ebony, etc etc etc. Problem is though- I had this really nice blood wood **** on my car, and in the florida heat, it began to crack from the heat cycles making it expand & contract daily. I'll have to investigate into sealing the wood to make it last longer, But I'm sure it's possible.
Cool guys, stay tuned!!
Landon
Cast acrylic is what I'll be machining (Cast, meaning that it was cast into the bar stock, not extruded through an extrusion die, not refering to what I do w/ it, I machine it on a lathe), and as far as it's properties go: It doesn't fade or yellow in the presence of sunlight, not that much if any UV can penetrate autoglass anyway lol. It's strong when tapped for threads, and possibility of melting is VERY unlikely, if possible at all. I'd even be willing to have a few of you get some reduced price "test *****" to see about how well the threads hold up-- On the one I made years ago (Pictures coming soon, just gotta dig it up from the parts bin, ha!), that was never an issue.
I'll purchase a tap for both S4 and S5 shift lever thread size-- So you'd just have to specify what year car/ or what lever you have in your car prior to ordering. No cheesy, loose wobbly adapters here!
As far as weighting the ***** go-- I'm not quite sure how I could pull it off & still have it look interesting, since it's clear? Embedding those rotors/turbos could add some weight though. It's funny someone is doing that! I thought for SURE I'd be the first person to make acrylic ***** specifically for 7's haha.
I can definitely embed objects too- I'll just have to purchase the acrylic as a liquid resin, and then cast it myself, with the objects in place. But ya, totally feasible.
I should also add- I can do wooden ***** too, out of rare exotic stuff like cocobolo, pink ivory, ebony, etc etc etc. Problem is though- I had this really nice blood wood **** on my car, and in the florida heat, it began to crack from the heat cycles making it expand & contract daily. I'll have to investigate into sealing the wood to make it last longer, But I'm sure it's possible.
Cool guys, stay tuned!!
Landon
08-31-10, 12:02 AM
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I would totally be down for a wooden ****, maybe with burned in/etched H-pattern or logo? How would you go about doing the threads one? And yeah I would most certainly seal it with some sort of resin. Price quote on a wooden know?
08-31-10, 06:25 AM
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MODERATOR INTERVENTION!
As this is an interest only thread, I'm gonna let it slide... However, once it starts getting into mass production and sales, I'm gonna have to enforce the classified section and vendor rules.
Onesie, Twosie kinda deals, you can get away with in the classified section.
More than five or so a month and you're gonna have to register as a vendor.
Here's my recommendation:
-Gauge interest. (This is why I'm leaving the thread open.) Figure out how many people want your product... At your price point, I think you'll find plenty of people that will be interested. Provided quality work, your reputation will get around and more people will want these *****.
-Manufacture a **** TON of them. 30-40 or so.
-Get a Group Buy vendor account. (Cost is $75)
-You now have three months to sell all of them.
-First one or two ***** covers the cost of advertising. The rest is gross income for you. After subtraction of your resin and other materials, there's your profit.
As this is an interest only thread, I'm gonna let it slide... However, once it starts getting into mass production and sales, I'm gonna have to enforce the classified section and vendor rules.
Onesie, Twosie kinda deals, you can get away with in the classified section.
More than five or so a month and you're gonna have to register as a vendor.
Here's my recommendation:
-Gauge interest. (This is why I'm leaving the thread open.) Figure out how many people want your product... At your price point, I think you'll find plenty of people that will be interested. Provided quality work, your reputation will get around and more people will want these *****.
-Manufacture a **** TON of them. 30-40 or so.
-Get a Group Buy vendor account. (Cost is $75)
-You now have three months to sell all of them.
-First one or two ***** covers the cost of advertising. The rest is gross income for you. After subtraction of your resin and other materials, there's your profit.
Last edited by Pele; 08-31-10 at 06:28 AM.
08-31-10, 03:38 PM
#21
Here's the one I made, 4 years ago. The "cracking" in the acrylic is due to the fact that the rounded corner was done w/ a file, and rushed, so the acylic overheated, and cracked. Base is aluminum. This weekend I'll make a few designs and such, with various materials. (Wood, acylic, delrin, aluminum are all possible)
I'll get some pictures uploaded once I've got these made. As for doing a shift H pattern, totally possible. I've got a great laser engraver who I'm using, so he can definitely make it work.
I'm probably going to use the stock **** as a sort of "referance". I'll be measuring it's stand off height from the top of the lever, to the top of the ****, the weight in grams, and the over-all dimensions, this way I can get close to the overall feel, shift wise, of the original ****, and then modify from there.
As for wood--- with most hard woods you can tap right into the wood, as 10x1.25 & 12x1.5 are coarse enough threads. But I may feel more comfortable doing a pressed in aluminum insert which is tapped, to avoid possible stripping.
Anyway, lets see how many people are interested once I get the proto ***** turned this weekend, and I'll go ahead & purchase the vendor license if it's go.
Thanks a bunch for the help everyone!!
Landon
I'll get some pictures uploaded once I've got these made. As for doing a shift H pattern, totally possible. I've got a great laser engraver who I'm using, so he can definitely make it work.
I'm probably going to use the stock **** as a sort of "referance". I'll be measuring it's stand off height from the top of the lever, to the top of the ****, the weight in grams, and the over-all dimensions, this way I can get close to the overall feel, shift wise, of the original ****, and then modify from there.
As for wood--- with most hard woods you can tap right into the wood, as 10x1.25 & 12x1.5 are coarse enough threads. But I may feel more comfortable doing a pressed in aluminum insert which is tapped, to avoid possible stripping.
Anyway, lets see how many people are interested once I get the proto ***** turned this weekend, and I'll go ahead & purchase the vendor license if it's go.
Thanks a bunch for the help everyone!!
Landon
Last edited by Landon303; 08-31-10 at 03:39 PM. Reason: forgot picture!
09-18-10, 12:14 PM
#22
Pictures
Not sure how to edit the thread, if any mods here could update the title to say that pictures are now up, and move the following pictures to the first page, that would be awesome.
Anyway, took a little longer, but here's the one I got engraved. Shape is definitely not final, and can be changed to your spec, so if you want a taller, wider or thinner (diameter wise) or shorter ****, etc, it can be accounted for. This is just the "demo piece" to show off the engraving, and how it looks in the car.
On to the pictures!
Should be able to start on these sometime in October, if all goes as should.
Thanks!
Anyway, took a little longer, but here's the one I got engraved. Shape is definitely not final, and can be changed to your spec, so if you want a taller, wider or thinner (diameter wise) or shorter ****, etc, it can be accounted for. This is just the "demo piece" to show off the engraving, and how it looks in the car.
On to the pictures!
Should be able to start on these sometime in October, if all goes as should.
Thanks!
09-18-10, 05:02 PM
#25
Like the idea, but the demo shape kinda turns me off. I personally always have wanted a shifter with the old school Mazda "M" logo from the 60's.
I don't know if it's a possibility, since this is a kind of majority rule situation, but I'd be down for a basic sphere or egg shape with that logo.
I don't know if it's a possibility, since this is a kind of majority rule situation, but I'd be down for a basic sphere or egg shape with that logo.